[The Hwankyung Ilbo] The Korea Forest Service's National Arboretum (Director Choi Young-tae) and the World Heritage Headquarters (Director Kang Man-gwan) said they confirmed that only about 360 willows, a rare and endangered plant, remain on Earth.

"Jeju Mountain Willow" is a specialty plant native to Mount Halla on Jeju Island around the world and has a very limited range of growth at the global level, which IUCN lists as "Vulnerable" and recognizes that international protection is needed.

Jeju Mountain Willows also known as Salix blinii Lév, is a small tree of the family Salicaceae that blooms before early spring leaves and leaves run after they bloom. 

In particular, depending on the characteristics of growing on high mountains, trees do not stand up and grow sideways.

The National Arboretum and the World Heritage Headquarters jointly conducted a complete survey over the past two years to determine the exact number of "Jeju Mountain Willows" growing on Halla Mountain, and confirmed that 365 trees remain in Halla Mountain.

The "Jeju Mountain Willow" was found to grow mainly along valleys of more than 1,000 meters of Mt. Halla, and the average density of the object was 0.042 individuals/square meters, which was very low.

In particular, analysis of the size of all identified objects confirmed that the proportion of young people with a radiation diameter of 50cm or less is relatively higher than that of large ones growing stably, and due to the frequent settlement and movement of young objects along the valley, the population is estimated to be very variable.

Fortunately, all the "Jeju Mountain Willow" native areas are currently designated as protected areas, making it impossible for the public to access them. 

Based on the results of the survey, the National Arboretum and the World Heritage Headquarters plan to conduct various additional studies to preserve the "Jeju willow" and to actively prepare for future extinction by securing large numbers of objects through artificial proliferation.

Shin Chang-hoon, head of the Halla Mountain Research Department at the World Heritage Headquarters, said, "Jeju Island is a very biodiversity region that is designated as a UNESCO biosphere reserve, and we will further speed up efforts to preserve rare endangered plants in Jeju."

Kim Sang-yong, director of plant resources research at the National Arboretum, said, "Exact diagnosis of threat is important for conservation of rare and endangered plants. We have secured key information to prepare measures for Jeju willow."

Meanwhile, the findings will be published in an international journal.